Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -

Sale 2708 - Lot 130

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(MASSACHUSETTS.) An Act to Prevent Profane Cursing and Swearing. Letterpress broadside, 18 x 11 inches, docketed "to be read at the annual meeting in March"; foxing, edge wear, dampstaining, tack holes and stains in margins, early repairs at folds. [Boston]: [Young and Minns], 29 June 1798

Additional Details

A new piece of state legislation to end "the horrible practice of profane Cursing and Swearing," which only served to "promote falsehood, perjuries, blasphemies and dissoluteness of manners, and to loosen the bonds of civil society." A first offense earned a fine of between one and two dollars, with fines for repeat offenses doubled, then tripled. Some of this money was to go to the poor of the town, and the remainder to the person reporting the offense. If this law is still on the books, you could make quite a bit of money at Fenway Park. Sadly, we don't get a list of offending words, or a definition of profanity. Evans 34068. 4 in ESTC; none traced at auction.